Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-26
4 W~ELL-HEELED PAURER.
One Of the County Patients at the Sis.
ters' Hospital With $1,000
On His Person.


creature called at the office of DR.. Sarchet
on Granite, near Utah street, and asked
for medical assistance. He gave his name
as George Bull, originally from Knox
Comfy, Illinois, and stated that he had
been working on the railroad construction
near the city. The mans appearance wae
so utterly wretched and his health so com
pletely broken that the doctors sympathy
was aroused, and he made an examination
of the man at once and found, as his ap.
pearance already indicated, that he was
on the point OF death from pneumonia
why, my good fellow" said the doctor,
You ought to be in bed and receiving the
best possible attention. You have as bad
a case OF pneumonia as l ever saw. Have
you ..n any friends here?"
ANY means?"
Hardly anything, sir"
Haven't you any money at all? Well,
once, that's evident"
The man groaued YEARLY and put his
hand in his pocket. DO I owe you any
thing. doctor?" he asked.
"Well, we usually charge 81 or S. for
advice and prescription, but as you seem
to be badly off I'll only charge you a dol
lar"
The man reluctantly drew his hand from
his pocket and gave the doctor the coin,
following it with his eyes as though part
ing with a dear friend.
"Now you'll have to 60 to the Sisters
Hospital, my good fellow, do you under
stand? Are you a Catholic?"
mo, sir. 1 was brought up among the
Methodists."
The doctors wife, who was standing
the mans pitiful appearance, now took a
deeper interest in the man than ever as size
belongs to that Church and her sympathy
took active shape in trying to make the
poor fellow comfortable. "Poor man,
said she to the doctor. Hundreds of
miles away from his home-without a cent
cant we do anything for him but send
him to the Poorhouse?"
"Poorhouse?" repeated the doctor, I'D
like to know where he'll be better off any
where than at the Sisters Hospital. That's
our Poorhouse and a deuced good place for
a sick man to 60 no matter how well
off he is. But I must hurry
up and get a permit from Young at once,
as the man seems actually dying. and they
may accuse me of killing him if he dies in
my Office"
So saying, the doctor snatched up his
hat and dashed across to Commissioner
Young, who was just sitting down to
breakfast. He explained the utter destitu-
ii. N of the stranger, his imminent danger
of death at any moment, and Mr.. Young
complied by writing out the order without
further inquiry. As the doctor got back
to his office he found the man crawling on
hands and knees over to a lounge to lie
down, Mrs. Sarchet having gone out of the
room.
Hold on there!" shouted the doctor
IF you lie down now you'll never get up
alive. just wait till l get you a carriage"
said he helping the poor wretch back to
the chair he was sitting in. Down the
street ran the doctor, and post haste he
drove back to his office and helped
the unfortunate into the cab.
ITO the Sisters Hospital" said
he to the hack driver when the man
was safely inside with the permit in his
hands, land here's half a dollar to take
him there said the doctor dividing his fee
with the cabman in theinterests of charity.
The man was received and supplied with
all the conveniences the hospital had at it's
command, but to no avail, as yesterday
morning he breathed his last. He was i'm
mediately laid. out and dressed for burial
by the Sisters, when the astounding dis
covery was made that, tied up in rags IN
his person he carried a sum of money
amounting to nearly $4,000. This was a
pretty state of affairs for the county
which had sent him to the Hospital as a
pauper. Commissioner Young was noti-
fed and kicked himself all round
representative shortly after he got the
news. When he had told him the harrow
ing details down to the denouement, Mr..
Young added: Its not the first time the
county been served this way. I tell you,
the people don't know how they've been
swindled time and again by just such cases
as this. But you can bet the county won't
be caught by this fellow. I told the Sisters
to put in a good bill against his estate with
the Public Administrator. and DR.. Sarchet
will do so, too. People blame us because
when a man comes and wants a permit for
some fellow to go to the hospital we re-
quire him to bring a petition with half a
dozen signatures to assure our
selves that the case is a
worthy one. But even then
the worst frauds are practised. People
have gone to the Sisters on permits as
titled to be admitted as such than l am.
Why, a fellow went there on permit, some
time ago, and was for months under their
care at the county's charge, and when he
was cured came to the National Bank here
and drew some hundreds of dollars n
went off to Canada GUESSING the country he
left, and I understand he's worth nearly
$4,000 there. Why, the swindles this
county has been a victim of would build a
handsome poorhouse, and yet we are &C
cused of being too particular"
A physician who shares the care OF the
pauper patients at. the Sisters Hospital.
when seen later, confirmed the Commits
sioner's account and added:
1.-THE cost to the county last year was
$4,000 and a poor farm could be run for
$4,000 or $4,000 a year. There have
been some gross frauds practiced in the
way you describe by people who never
ought to nave been a charge or the County.
If there was a poor farm the odium at
tached. to going there would limit
tha applicants to h needy
and worthy only and the public
ought to be fully informed about it. There's
no sense in letting the county in for IS 75a
week for people who, by making a little ef-
fort, could pay even regular hospital dues.
There is no difference in the treatment of
the county patients and regular pay pa
TENTS. They receive the same attention
and no distinction is made except it costs
them nothing instead of $25 a week."
Here is ground for moralizing, but as our
readers can do this as we'll for themselves
we leave them to their own reflections over
this anomalous condition OF affairs.
Filed With the Recorder.